A Tale Of Two Parties
Politics is sports for the non-jocks.
You got your winners and losers, most importantly. There's scoring, statistics, strategy. A rule book. The media. Superstars, comeback stories, and dirty tricks. And each Tuesday after the first Monday in November: the championships. Everything but cheerleaders, really. And much like sports, there's watching it, which is a perfectly valid level of involement...and then there is participating in it.
The absolute best thing about working on political campaigns is the people you meet during them. Yeah, good governance is nice, and hooray for the good guys (whoever they are, these days). But when we work together with a bunch of people we'd never normally have met, and fight the good fight for a common cause above ourselves, then win or lose, our acquaintances become our friends. And we have made many friends.
And the best thing about friends...is parties!
Say what you want about Dion Robbins-Zust. His candidacy was what it was, but he's actually a very engaging guy, and arguably is in a position to be a voice for the Berkshire County progressive movement. Anyway, at one of our conversations during the campaign, he invited Tara and I to his election night party. Sounds like fun, right? Well, it did to us too, so we went. And we had a great time. There were fireworks, and champagne, and towards 9:00 or so I was jamming on the trap kit with a bad-ass mandolin player (Don, who has a gig at the The Lion's Den down in Stockbridge), plus keys, digeridoo, bongos, and vocals. Not a single person was wearing a tie, and everyone was laughing and smiling and having a terrific time.
Shortly after, Dion wanted to go up to the ITAM in Pittsfield and congratulate Ben Downing on his win (as did we) in person. It's on our way back up north, so we stopped in to that party too.
There weren't any fireworks, and no digeridoo player, but there was champagne. About 2/3 of the guys there wearing ties, and everyone was laughing and smiling and having a terrific time. Great night for the Democrats. And really a lot of fun to have been present the night they smashed the champagne bottle on Ben Downing's political battleship.
But Ben and Dion spoke to each other and shook each other's hand and I'm sure congratulated each other on a well-run campaign. Then I asked if I could take a picture of the two guys, and don't think for a second I'm not going to post it here:
So that's about it for the actual election. Glad to see Tom Merrigan win one for the good guys on the Governor's Council. Question 4 is a resounding Yes, for whatever that's worth, and I'm noticing that almost all of the towns that voted Yes on Question 1 were wealthy suburbs: it carried in Lincoln, Wellesley, Weston, Brookline, and Cambridge. Wonder why.
Anyway, great Election Night! The shouting is over--let the blathering begin!
posted by Ross @ 12:14 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
"arguably is in a position to be a voice for the Berkshire County progressive movement." Say what you will about a refreshing take on the political system (I think that's what you were saying) I still don't care for someone like Dion being the voice for a very serious and important issue as shared parenting. Perhaps you will feel different if, and I'm not advocating this, you fall victim to the courts in a custody battle. Losing the ties is great, having fun no matter what the outcome great, but Dion representing a serious, under-represented, and misunderstood group is like throwing paint at a wall and call the thrower an artist.
Snoop: after watching Dion at a number of debates, it's hard to argue that he has the demeanor of the traditional politician. Like I said, his candidacy was what it was.
But I think his hammering on single-parent legislation during the campaign put a bug in Ben Downing's ear and forced him to address the issue. Now our state senator-elect has read up on the issue and is better educated on its merits than if Dion hadn't brought it up the way he had. I myself hadn't known much about it until the debates, but now I'm one more educated voter on shared parenting law, because of that.
Shared parenting legislation got a hearing during this election, and Dion was its voice. His longevity in the political arena remains an open question, true, and he's not the spokesman of choice for all advocates of the issue. But like him or not, he did more to advance the cause than to set it back.
Ross, I am going to have to respectfully disagree on your last point. I think the fatherhood coaltion in general has only succeeded in making fewer people support their cause, as people who would otherwise support their argument are turned off by their methods. Using shared parenting as the answer to all the questions he is asked in a debate makes it seem like he is not talking the election seriously, so why should the public treat his cause any differently? Having your campaign headquarters at a illegal social club run by a sex offender doesn't help either. Dion's campaign, together with Rinaldo Del Gallo's write-in campaign during the special election for the Third Berkshire rep seat have made a lot of people never want to hear the words "shared parenting" again.
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